Balzac: una vita di passioni

Usually made-for-TV biographies of artists are pretty silly: there's just too much concern to get all the major works mentioned without taking care also to bring the person to life. I did enjoy Drach's Maupassant, with a terrific Claude Brasseur, and now I've seen Josee Dayan's Balzac and like it a lot.

The actors tear into their parts with such gusto. Depardieu is really feeling his way through the part, and his lover in life as well as in this film, Fanny Ardant, does a great job as Eve Hanska. Virna Lisi as his first lover Mme de Berny was very touching; she knew she couldn't hold on to him forever, given that she was two decades older than Balzac. Jeanne Moreau has got a froggy old woman's voice now, and she uses it to great effect. The lack of any great love between mother and son comes out in their scenes.